Published: Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 10:55 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 1:07 p.m.

Police hauled a station wagon out of a Punta Gorda canal Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, hoping to solve a 20-year-old missing persons case.

Staff Photo / Shannon McFarland

Frances Hendrickson, a 64-year-old woman who walked with a slight hunch, drove her blue station wagon from her Punta Gorda Isles home 20 years ago and was never seen again. Since then Punta Gorda police have been trying to solve their oldest missing person case.

Known as a poor driver by her neighbors, police investigated other leads into her disappearance, but thought there was a strong chance her car was hidden somewhere in the canals. Police scoured the area, searching by air and water “numerous times,” with divers and later sonar equipment. The 55 miles of canals mazing through Punta Gorda range in depth and visibility under water.

The first image of the sunken car in a canal here, taken with new sonar equipment from the Lee County Sheriff's Office, gave police a glimpse at the blue station wagon Wednesday. Submerged just blocks from Hendrickson's home, the sonar finally showed divers where to look in the dark water for the mud-buried car.

Hendrickson has a son and a daughter who live in other states. Both have been contacted about the discovered car, which will be wrapped up and moved to the police department as evidence.

Many of the houses in Punta Gorda Isles were built after Hendrickson disappeared, and just about all of her original neighbors are gone. One neighbor, Rose Porth, who used to live just down the street on Spoonbill Drive, remembers when Hendrickson disappeared. Porth, a resident of the neighborhood for 24 years, said she remembers living near the Hendricksons.

Hendrickson and her husband, a Navy veteran, were well recognized for their cars. His was yellow with the Florida tag “SNOMAN.” Hers was light blue with the tag “SNOBURD.”

A lingering mystery

Mr. Hendrickson was an avid gardener, Porth said. The couple owned another lot across from their home on Whippoorwill Boulevard and he filled both with plants and palm trees, painstakingly mixing fertilizer to care for them. He was friendly with the neighbors, Porth said, although his wife was a quiet, retired woman who kept to herself.

“She was a real homebody,” Porth said. After her husband passed away, Hendrickson went out even less. She would occasionally get a ride to the bank from another neighbor or drive herself to the store. Her car, with its distinctive tag, was often seen outside a local watering hole.

One neighbor, who checked on Hendrickson after she lived alone, went to her home after he hadn't seen her in a few days. He found her pocketbook still on the table, Porth said. They later wondered if her disappearance was why a neighbor's dog had been barking.

“I used to look for her license every time I went to the Publix,” Porth said. “We were hoping she ran off with someone and was happy.”

Police responded to the 3700 block of Whippoorwill Boulevard for a report of a missing woman on July 4, 1993. The neighbor said he saw Hendrickson drive by on June 30, the last time Hendrickson was seen. The neighbor told police Hendrickson did not like to drive and rarely traveled.

Divers searched nearby canals and a lake in July 1993, without finding a trace. Police searched her home and interviewed neighbors. Hendrickson's dental records, DNA and other information were entered into missing person databases.

About two years ago, the case was reopened when new sonar equipment helped glimpse through the silt of the canals.

‘I found it'

Outfitted in scuba gear, Jonathan Mendel knew he was looking for a car when he jumped into the murky water Tuesday. He'd heard about the “SNOBURD case” in the department. He said divers kept an eye out for a station wagon while training in the canals, hoping they might accidentally find it.

The sonar had tipped them off to the area behind the intersection of Whippoorwill Boulevard and Eider Street. It was Mendel's fist recovery dive, and his first dive in “black water.”

Mendel sank through the water, landing on the top of the car about 15 feet underwater, buried almost to the top in the mud. Without the sonar, Mendel said a diver could have swam right by it without realizing the car was there.

“I looked back and could see the chrome,” he said. The roof and rack of the car were dotted with small white barnacles and covered in silt and rocks.

“Wow, I actually found it,” he remembers thinking.

With older sonar equipment, from even just a few years ago, the technology would simply indicate there was a an object resembling “a big box.” Divers found a roof blown into a canal after a hurricane. Another search, they pulled a portable toilet from the water.

A tow truck lugged the car out by straps lashed around the front and back. Forensics analysts combed through the water-logged car, collecting the remains of a body. It was turned them over to the medical examiner's office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to determine the cause of death and verify the identity of the body. The wooden side paneling and recognizable blue frame was spotted with rust but mostly intact, the car's tag unreadable.

“You could tell it is a Florida tag, but can't read any of the characters,” said Capt. Tom Lewis of the Punta Gorda Police Department. He said the remains of the body are expected to match Hendrickson and no foul play is suspected.

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